Stand
by hardly loquacious
Summary: Mac was about thirty seconds away from blowing a gasket. The past two months have been piling up on Mac, and Taylor acts as an unexpected tipping point. But is it so unexpected to everyone? Post 2.08, picks up immediately after the episode ends.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Hello all! So, I may be in the minority here, but I loved 2.08. Probably my favourite episode of the season. And this fic sprung to mind almost immediately after I finished watching it. It just took me a while to actually write it down. I was determined to get it done before the finale tonight though, and I just made it. It takes place immediately following 2.08. I hope you enjoy.

Stand

xxx

Mac was about thirty seconds away from blowing a gasket.

How _dare_ she?

How dare she come on _their show_ and rip apart Will like that? Like he was some partisan hack who was nothing but a political agenda?

"_And how do you, as a republican, explain and support a Democratic president who purports to speak for everyday Americans but then..."_

Mac had thought she was better than that. She'd thought that after what had happened on the Romney campaign that Taylor would have a little more sympathy for a Republican who criticized what was going on in his own party.

Instead the woman was showing her true colours and laying into Will like he was an empty suit with a big microphone.

"_There was an article written about you about a year ago which accused you of being irrelevant and obsolete..."_

Mac clenched her hands until her nails bit into her palms. This was a news program. A _news_ program! They were supposed to at least maintain a modicum of balance and informed discussion. Taylor had supposedly understood that. She wasn't supposed to make Will a target; Mac wasn't sure for what (maybe hypocrisy, maybe something else). She didn't care what the reason or it was. Watching was making Mac nauseous. Her heart was racing and her mind was whirling and everything was spiraling out of control. She couldn't find her voice. She could only grit her teeth and try and mutter into the microphone to Elliot and Sloan to try and bring things back on topic. Will was surprisingly resistant to do so and the others were having even less success.

Then, Taylor changed tactics, suggesting that Will was feigning belief in a political ideology for cynical reasons.

"_And are you saying that that your own recent willingness to acknowledge your own Republicanism isn't its own kind of blanket armour, protecting you to a certain extent from attacks from the right that a left wing journalist would have been subject to?"_

Mac's breath caught. Had she just? Will had hardly been free from attacks from the right. Or the left. Or the centre. Or really just about anyone at this point. She watched as he turned and made that very point to the woman on his right with a sardonic little smile on his face that sent a chill through Mac's bones.

She thought even Taylor may have faltered slightly.

Well, good. If Mac had been capable of making some kind of rational reply to the woman, she would have. But after her week, that was well beyond her right now. As it was, the urge to jump through the monitor and physically drag Taylor out of the studio was almost overwhelming.

The headache Mac had been trying to ignore for hours now pushed itself into the forefront. She glanced at the clock. Two minutes. Two minutes until they could go for a commercial break.

Two minutes and then the rest of the show and then she'd be gone.

But she still had to hold it together for the two minutes.

"Could we bring it back to the election coverage please?" she asked the panel desperately, hoping against hope that Sloan or Elliot would finally jump in.

No such luck.

"_You make an interesting point Will. I'd just like to take it a little further. If everyone's attacking you, it's got to make you wonder who you're speaking for. We're sitting here watching democracy at work. If we were electing newscasters tonight instead of politicians, do you think you'd still be sitting in that chair?"_

Sometimes you could actually feel the moment when you just snapped.

Mac felt it happen, but she didn't care.

She didn't care about anything anymore.

"Get me Taylor!" she hissed to Herb.

"Uh, we can't," he started to explain.

"Just do it!" she snapped.

He flipped a switch on the control room. "Okay _Ms. Warren_. You listen to me, and you listen to me very carefully," Mac hissed, her voice low and dangerous. "I get what you're doing; I understand why you're doing it. Some days I might have even be able to look at it objectively and acknowledge the value of it, at least from your perspective. But today is not one of those days. This is a news program and we report the news. Or we try to. We may not always do the best job. And we may have fucked it up recently, but don't you _dare_ try and blame that on him. This shit you're trying to pull stops _now_, or you won't be sitting at that desk when we come back from the break. Will McAvoy is one of the good guys. He's one of the best. And he's a fucking good broadcaster. If things went badly two months ago, it's because we let him down. And _yes,_ in the past he has had the gall to criticize Republican politicians, sometimes even the Republican candidate, even though he's a Republican himself. Funny thing, he's also criticized Democrats when necessary, including our current President. Because that is what we try and do here. And if you have a problem with that, you can take it up with _me_, and we will have that discussion off of the air. But you will not fuck with Will in the middle of my election coverage, do you understand me?"

The expression on Taylor's face told Mac she had.

Then Sloan's face caught her eye.

And Mac's world fell apart just a little bit more.

She closed her eyes. "That wasn't just Taylor."

"We couldn't get you just Taylor," Herb explained. "I tried to tell you. We can get you just Will, and we can get you just Elliot, but we didn't have time to isolate the other two mics before the broadcast started. To talk to Sloan or Taylor, you have to talk to the entire panel."

Mac didn't open her eyes. "Fifteen seconds. Wrap for commercial," she murmured, relieved that Elliot at least had enough presence of mind to do just that.

She couldn't open her eyes to see his (or anyone else's) reactions.

Then she ripped off the headset, handed it to Don with muttered instructions to cover for her, and flew from the room.

Turns out she might not even make it through the show after all.

xxx

Will stood up and unclipped his mic, turning towards a still shell-shocked Taylor. "Sorry I put you in the middle of that. It was my fault. We'll fix it after the break, I promise."

Then without waiting for her to reply he stood. "I may need you to cover for me if I'm not back by the end of the next break," he murmured to Elliot.

"Don't worry about it," Elliot replied. "I can always wander around the decision desk pointlessly again if I need to."

Will smiled slightly. "Thanks."

"Will?" Sloan said softly. "Get her back."

He nodded once, mentally thanking his lucky stars that Sloan didn't know about the supposed firing. He'd very deliberately not told anyone.

He slipped out of the studio without another word and went in search of his producer.

They needed to talk.

xxx

He found her right where he'd expected her to, leaning against the wall with her eyes closed in the corner of an edit bay, one that no one used unless they were absolutely desperate because it had the oldest equipment in the building and was frustratingly slow. Mostly, people just used it if they needed a minute to themselves.

Will suspected the woman using it now might need more than one.

He couldn't help noticing that she looked even more frighteningly tired in the semi-darkness. His heart lurched in his chest at the bags under her eyes.

"Well, I think that went well," he said slightly as he shut the door behind him.

"Will..." she pleaded, though he wasn't entirely sure what she was asking for. If it was for him to leave, she was going to be disappointed.

He decided to try to keep it light, even smiling slightly at her, though she couldn't see it. "So you don't think I'm an entirely terrible human being then?"

She opened her eyes, and the pain in them went straight through him. "Will... _please."_

He steeled himself against the waver in her voice. No matter how much practice he'd had ignoring it over the years, it always got to him. The struggle made his tone harsher than he'd intended. "_No!_ I think this is something I'd like to get straight once and for all, Mackenzie. Which is it? Am I one of the good guys, or am I the guy you expect to punish you because I can?"

He watched her eyes flutter closed again as she dropped her chin to her chest, slumping even farther down against the wall. "It doesn't matter."

He strode over to her, angry with her again for about a million reasons. How could she possibly think that? "Like hell it doesn't."

She just shook her head. "It doesn't."

Will took a breath and tried to calm down, reminding himself that while he was hurt, she was fucking breakable right now. "I think it does."

"Good for you," she muttered.

The defeat in her voice made him panic. She wasn't allowed to give up. She was _Mac_. She didn't do that. She'd only done it once before, and it had been the other tragedy of his life. He couldn't deal with that again. He grabbed her elbows. He'd hold her up himself if he had to.

He fought her despair with fire. "Do you really want to leave the show?" he demanded. "Because if you _want_ to..."

She interrupted him this time, her voice firm for the first time since he'd stepped in the room. "I _need_ to leave the show."

Will shook his head furiously. "Leona wouldn't accept our resignations. Why should yours be the exception?"

Mac finally opened her eyes. He wasn't surprised to see tears in them.

"Because it's my fault!" she choked out. "It's all my fault!"

Will stared at her. He'd suspected it, on some level maybe he'd even _known_ that she'd probably felt it. Mac always shouldered more responsibility (and more guilt) than was strictly necessary. But for some reason he was still surprised. "How the _fuck_ is it all your fault?"

And just as they had earlier with Taylor, the words spilled out of her. "I let Jim go! I brought in Jerry Dantana. I helped him with the story! I asked leading questions. I didn't notice the problem with the footage. I set up the Red Teams. I ignored Don's warning that, whether it was true or not, this story would cause bigger problems for Americans overseas. I ignored Jim's gut. I trusted the wrong things, the wrong people. I'm the god damn executive producer. It's my job to catch these things before they happen and I failed. I failed..." She started to slide down the wall.

But Will slid his hands further under her elbows and hauled her back up. "We _all _failed, Mackenzie! All of us! But mostly Jerry fucking Dantana. We all saw the footage and the evidence and we all believed it. You and me and Charlie and the lawyers who vetted the story and everyone else at the Red Team meetings. And don't try and tell me that you, and you alone, convinced me. I had a source of my own, remember?"

There was less than a foot between them, but Mac refused to meet his eyes, staring firmly at the floor. Or maybe it was his chest, or maybe she had her eyes closed again. "But you trusted _me_," she whispered desperately. "I did this to you."

Will dropped his head against hers. "Look at me, Mackenzie," he whispered, lifting his head and waiting for her to do the same. It took her a moment, but she managed it eventually.

"I trusted you," he said. "And I trusted Charlie. And I trusted my source. And I trusted the Newsroom. And yes, maybe I did trust you the most. But I trusted your judgement of the facts. I trusted your read on things. At no time was I trusting that you'd be able to magically know that a senior producer had doctored footage. God, I never liked Dantana and even I never suspected that. I trusted you, Mackenzie. I trusted my EP. And I still do."

Mac bit her lip to stifle a sob. "Don't do this."

Will frowned, dropping his hands from her elbows. "Do what?"

She shut her eyes again. "Don't be... you."

That stumped him. Maybe she really did hate him. "I don't know what that means."

"Don't you see?" Mac asked desperately. "I have to go! You have to let me. You have to stop being wonderful."

Will felt like shouting his relief. For the first time, he felt optimistic about the outcome of the evening. "Why are you so sure you have to go?"

He watched a fire grow behind her eyes. She finally straightened up slightly, trying to fight. "If I stay I'm going to destroy you! I'm practically your fucking kryptonite Will! At least Superman had the sense to try and stay away. Though god knows you tried for a while too. When I came back, I thought that maybe... But I just made everything worse. I need to go! Don't you see?" she asked desperately. "Don't you see? It doesn't matter what I _want._"

"Mac," Will said, his voice low, placing a hand on either side of her against the wall. "Are you telling me that you... That you said those things to... That the only reason you said them was to... provoke me into firing you, because you thought it would be better for me?"

She put her hands on his shoulders, holding his eyes, her expression almost wild in its sincerity. "They're going to drag you through the mud at this trial, Billy! They're going to do it to all of us, but especially you! They'll talk about Brian, about what I did to you, about Afghanistan, about the two of us, about... It's going to be terrible."

The shock was still running through him. Will tried to sort out his thoughts. He'd thought something like this was a possibility, that she'd been particularly cruel to try and goad him, but... His tone turned angry. "And you thought it would be better if I had to go through it alone?"

"You'll have Charlie, and Sloan and the rest of the newsroom," Mac assured him earnestly. "You wouldn't be alone."

Will shook his head violently. Somehow she actually _believed _that. He didn't give a damn about the rest of them right now. And anyway, soon it wouldn't have made any difference. "I wouldn't have the newsroom very long."

Now it was her turn to grab his arms. "Don't say that Billy. If Leona doesn't fire you before midnight, she probably isn't going to."

He shook his head. "No, I mean I wouldn't have their support for very long. I mean, if they knew I'd even contemplated firing you..."

Mac's face turned stubborn. "I'll tell them I made you do it."

Will laughed, though it wasn't funny. "Even if they believed that, I'm screwed if I go back into that studio without you tonight."

Mac started shaking her head, obviously still intent on denying her role in anything. "Oh you are not! And of course I'm going to go back into the studio tonight. You didn't honestly think I'd just abandon you all in the middle of the show? You didn't really..."

"You're trying to abandon us in the middle of Genoa," Will snapped back.

Mac recoiled like she'd he'd smacked her. "I'm trying to do what's best for the show. For everyone."

"It's not what's best for the show!" he hissed. It couldn't be. He refused to allow that.

Mac's eyes filled with tears again. "Will..."

Will interrupted her. "I can't do this show without you."

She blinked at him in surprise. "Of course you can."

"I can't," Will insisted, reaching up to brush away the tear that had spilled out the corner of her eye. "And you're delusional if you think otherwise."

He watched her face soften again. "Will..."

"No!" he snapped. "Even if I didn't immediately slide back into old habits without you to push me, and that's a big if Mackenzie, I would eventually. Because I wouldn't care. And I wouldn't care who I was disappointing."

Her breath caught. "Will..."

"Do you really think I'm that terrible a person, Mac?" he asked desperately. "When you said... In your office... Do you really hate me that much?"

He watched her tears overflow again. She'd been on the verge of crying for weeks; maybe she just needed to let it out. Maybe he wasn't the one who'd been on the verge of exploding.

"You need to fire me," she said softly.

He barely resisted the urge to shake her, his voice taut and frustrated. "Answer the god damn question Mackenzie." When he'd really thought that she hated him that much, nothing else had mattered. Then, after what she'd said to Taylor he'd thought, maybe...

Mac shut her eyes again and gave up. "I think you have the capacity to be cruel, and sometimes you are. But I think you're mostly wonderful, even though you never seem to notice it. And I think you're probably the best man I've ever known."

Will let his own eyes close as he dropped his head onto her shoulder, a painful joy suffusing through him, he tightened his grip. "You're my closest friend and most trusted partner," he said softly, his heart breaking when he heard her cry out. He should have given her the words every day. He should have made sure that she _knew. _Now he'd just have to say them again and again now until they sunk into her skin. "You're my closest friend and most trusted partner, Mackenzie," he said again. "My most trusted partner. Always. Always and always and always. That will never change." Then he lifted his head. "And I didn't fire you."

Her eyes popped open and she started to object.

He cut her off. "I didn't fire you. The whole second half of the conversation in your office earlier? It didn't happen. None of it. I'll swear it under oath if I have to."

"You fired me, Will," she reminded him. "I'm not coming into work tomorrow.."

"Then I'll get Leona to sue you for breach of contract. She will too. She threatened to do it to Charlie and me, and she apparently likes you now _McMac._ I told you, I didn't fire you. And you have no one to say otherwise!"

She stared at him in shock. "Because you told me not to tell anyone!"

Will found himself smirking triumphantly. Even at the height of his anger, he'd known he'd almost certainly want a way out.

"I'll deny the accusation to my dying day, Mackenzie," he said seriously. "Given the amount of mess we're in, do you really want to add to it with internal squabbling?"

Mac tried a different tack. "It would be bad for Jerry's case if someone else got fired."

"That's Leona's decision," Will said. "If she fires Charlie and I, I promise, I'll fire you too. We all go, Mac, or none of us."

She was still staring at him like he'd lost his mind (though for the first time in weeks he finally felt like he'd found it). "So we're like some sort of seriously messed up Three Musketeers?"

"Something like that," Will agreed. He took her hands, and looked right into her eyes. "Stand with us, Mackenzie."

She shook her head softly. "I don't know if I can."

He reached a hand up to cup her cheek. He knew the last two months had been hell for her, but he promised himself he'd make sure the next ones weren't like them. "You can. And if you can't, I'll be there."

She leaned into his touch. "I'm so tired."

He knew she was. Everyone knew she was. "You need to sleep."

Her voice broke. "I can't."

"Call me, and I'll talk you through it." Will urged. God only knew, she'd been there for him each and every night he'd needed a sympathetic ear for over two years now. It was time he repaid the favour.

"Why? So you don't sleep either?" Mac asked sarcastically. "It would be better for you if I left."

"It wouldn't," he assured her again.

She sent him her saddest smile, and Will wondered if he'd ever see her happy again. "Billy, I know you think that, probably because of some misguided sense of loyalty..."

"Not misguided loyalty," He argued. "Fact. I need you."

"Will..."

And Will realised it was time to tell her all of it. "Yours is the only opinion that matters, Mackenzie."

That shut her up.

"God knows, that fact drives me absolutely crazy and some days it completely infuriates me, but it's true. Sometimes I try and pretend that it isn't, or I have doubts and I get confused. Half the time it's half the reason you frustrate me. Because in the end, you're the one who matter, yours is the only opinion that I give a damn about. And if you leave..." He shook his head. When she'd told him she was expecting nothing but punishment, but cruelty, she'd broken him. Then, she'd yelled at Jordan and she'd put him back together. "When you said... when I thought..."

"Billy..."

Her eyes were shining now, and Will pushed his advantage. "I can't let you give up, Kenz. Now it's my turn to light a fire under _your_ ass."

To his relief, he thought he saw a quirk of a smile in the corner of her mouth. He took her into his arms, relieved when she didn't put up a fight.

"I'll probably destroy you in the end," she whispered again.

He shook his head. "It'll destroy me more if you leave," he whispered back.

He felt her burrow ever so slightly closer. "I didn't know that."

"Now you do."

"You did fire me though," she reminded him.

He almost laughed. "I didn't."

"Will..."

And he felt his heart sink to his shoes, another possibility occurring to him. "Do you not want to be my EP anymore? Do you not like it?" he whispered into her ear. "Is it too hard?"

She shook her head against his. "I love being your EP."

Will shut his eyes, the force of the relief overwhelming him a little. "I love that you're my EP."

She made another little choking sound, and Will wrapped his arms around her more tightly.

"You didn't fire me?" she asked hesitantly.

And Will nearly slumped in relief, except that he was afraid that if he did they'd both fall to the floor. "Never."

Mac stood up, wiping her eyes. After a second, they widened in panic as she seemed to remember herself. "Oh god, the show."

Will was quick to reassure. "Elliot's covering."

She stared at him. "With what?"

He smirked. "Decision desk footage."

He thought he saw a twinkle of light in her eyes as she rolled them at him. "Because that was such a success last time."

Will pretended to consider it. "I don't know, it could be a running thing, introduce a little levity into the election coverage."

Now she was almost definitely smiling. "At Elliot's expense?"

"Better him than me," Will said truthfully.

Mac started to smile. Then she remembered something else. "Crap, Taylor."

"I'll fix it," Will assured her.

"Will..."

He squeezed her hand. "I'll ask her if she wants to finish the argument with a few well-placed barbs, or reach some sort of compromise and make up on air, bonding over our shared political values."

After a second, Mac seemed to accept that. "She'll pick the second option."

"I know," he agreed. "It's better PR. For both of us."

"I guess we could use all the good PR we can get," Mack admitted.

Will was so relieved that she was finally looking a little bit more like herself that he pushed it a little farther. "And who knows, maybe the scent of scandal all over us will make our election coverage ratings higher."

"Great," she said dryly, but there was no defeat in her voice this time.

He slid a hand to the small of her back and turned her towards the door. "Come on, Mac. We need to get back."

Just before they stepped into the hallway, she looked up at him. "Hey Will?"

"Yeah?"

He watched her bite her lip, and glance down. "You're not a terrible director of morale."

He felt himself smiling. "I hope you know, I'm handing the job back to you tomorrow."

She glanced back up, her eyes clear. "I know."

"Just so we're clear," Will added.

"We are," she added.

He nodded, happy to leave things there. For now. "Then let's do our show."

xxx

Mac couldn't help feeling pleased when Will walked her back to the control room before turning towards the studio with a final squeeze of her elbow.

She squared her shoulders and slipped inside, smiling as she heard Don assuring Elliot that Decision Desk: Segment 2.0 hadn't been as terrible as it had sounded in his head. She walked up behind the younger producer and placed a hand on his shoulder.

His eyes were surprised when he turned, surprised and a little bit concerned.

She smiled softly and saw his relief.

"Thank you," she whispered

Don sent her a half smile back. "Anytime, Mac."

She nodded before turning to Herb. "How long before the next segment?"

"Just over two minutes thirty," he replied.

"Get me graphics, I want to see them," she ordered, pleased when her control room leapt into action.

She glanced around. This was exactly where she belonged. How could she have forgotten that?

Mac busied herself with her headset while Will took his place at the desk. She ran through the election graphics, and touched base with Don, Kendra and Joey while Will had a word with Taylor. Then she slipped her headset back on, ignoring the curious expressions on Sloan and Elliot's faces at Will's sudden return.

"Okay, listen up guys," she said, smiling to herself when four faces snapped towards her. "We've got about two-thirty before the next segment. I'm going to start by cutting to Will for an update on some of the confirmed races. Elliot, thanks for covering with the tour of the decision desk."

"Of course, Mac," he said immediately, cutting off her thanks. "Don't even mention it."

She nodded to herself, biting her lip when she felt Don squeeze her elbow. "Sloan," she called.

Her friend looked up. "Stop rambling about things if I've forgotten the details?" she guessed.

Mac grinned. "Yup."

"Sure thing, Kenz," Sloan replied easily, ignoring Elliot's chuckling.

Mac took a breath. "Taylor..."

The other woman cut her off. "Mackenzie, I'd like to apologize for my conduct earlier. I went too far."

"No, I'd like to apologize," Mac told her. "It's been a stressful day. Let's just fix it and move on, okay?"

"Sure," Taylor told her, relaxing visibly. Mac heard Jim walk in behind her. She shot him a smile before turning her attention back to the panel.

"Anyway, I think we both know who's to blame for what happened," Mac added. "Will."

"I'm not going to apologize," Will told her, flipping through his notes in front of him.

She smirked. "Did I ask you to?"

"No," he admitted easily.

"Just try not to screw up my show," she replied.

He raised his eyes to the camera. "Our show."

Mac bit her lip. "Our show," she agreed softly, feeling Don place a hand on one shoulder. "No mistakes."

"I heard Charlie's threats," he said dryly. "I have no desire to jump in the river and start swimming."

Mac felt the giggles bubble through her. She ignored the surprise on everyone else's faces. "In that suit?" she teased. "I think not. Just try not to fuck up."

"Yes ma'am," Will murmured easily.

Mac felt Jim move to stand on her other said, his fingers brushing against her elbow, Don still on her other side. She swallowed the lump in her throat. Her boys, her team, her show. "Ten seconds back," she said. "Get ready. And good show."

"Good show, Mackenzie," Will murmured as the countdown started.

She watched the camera pan forward, just as she had a million times before, and for the first time in a week, in her control room with her newsroom standing by, Mac felt right.

And she knew she would stand with them until the end. Whatever happened tomorrow, they would face it together. She couldn't believe she'd forgotten that.

Fresh tears pricking in her eyes, she turned her attention to the man who'd reminded her.

It was time for them to do the news.

"_Good evening, this is Will McAvoy with Atlantis Cable News. If you're just tuning in, we're midway through our election coverage..."_

xxx

The end

A/N2: So, it's occurred to me, that this need not be a one-shot. It's probably going to depend what happens in the finale in a few hours. And whether there's any interest. (Also, whether people are fine with it going AU, I guess.)

Anyway, hope you liked it!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: So, I've been intending to continue this for weeks and weeks now. I thought it was time to write some of it down. I wrote the first chapter after 2.08, and at the time had a potential continuation floating around my head. I knew though, that the finale would probably render it either pointless or not possible. The finale did contradict what I had in mind, or at least part of the finale did, but I decided to write the continuation anyway, as a sort of alternate 2.09 and beyond. Essentially, in this universe, most of 2.09 does happen, with the notable exception of the proposal. This chapter will explain the conversation that Will and Mac have instead. The next chapter will continue on from there. Because obviously this has turned into a multi-chapter. This one is a bit shortish, but I decided it was probably better to just start posting. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 2

xxx

He couldn't seem to keep his eyes off of her, even more so than usual.

In spite of his best intentions, every ten seconds or so, his eyes would flick to her, desperate to double-check that she was still all right. Well, all right_ish._

They had a break in their coverage while they went to Washington for comment and almost everyone had started congregating in the bullpen. It was an eventful night for them all after all, between the election and the lawsuit. The newsroom was almost never quiet, but right now it was positively cacophonous. And Mackenzie was right in the middle of it all, or trying to be. She didn't quite look as focused as usual. Probably saving her energy for the control room. When she was there, with her headset on then no matter what happened, she was always in charge.

Will supposed he should count his blessings. At least Mac throwing herself into things she was probably too exhausted to tackle was better than her leaning against a wall in the dark and giving up.

She hadn't quite started to collapse in on herself again, but worry and guilt and several sleepless (or near-sleepless) nights were still taking their toll.

Will tried to focus on the positive.

He was the Director of Morale after all, even if the position was self-appointed.

And despite looking exhausted, Mackenzie _was_ almost smiling. She was standing on the other side of the bullpen, talking to Jim and actually looking like she was something nearish to happy. Will was struck by the sudden urge to walk over there and thank the younger man for helping to put a sort-of-smile on Mac's face. Except that if he did, Jim would look at him like he was insane, and like he had some nerve; because after all, whose fault was it most of the time that Mac was upset? Apart from Genoa's obviously.

The look was unnecessary though. Will already felt guilty. Because Jim would have had a point.

Will had never (okay, _rarely_) done it deliberately, but he had become awfully good at hurting Mackenzie McHale. Awfully good at it. He was that guy. He was the guy who looked like a good guy, but underneath, well, just wasn't.

And one of the few people who still believed that he _was,_ he hurt.

Will glanced back at her face and winced. She looked better, but there was still so much sadness lurking around her eyes.

And he knew her. So he knew that, no matter what he'd said to her earlier in the editing bay, she was still convinced that it was all her fault.

He didn't know how to change that, didn't know if he could (his powers as Director of Morale only stretched so far).

It was all piling up on her. Too much. She couldn't take it. Couldn't take his bullshit on top of Genoa and Jerry Dantana and the lawsuit and everything else.

Will wanted that haunted look behind her eyes gone.

And just like that, in the middle of the bullpen, as he watched her chat with Martin, Will realized that he had to stop.

He'd realized part of it earlier.

But he was realizing the rest now.

Mac needed backup, support. And not just for ten minutes after a meltdown. She'd need it unconditionally and permanently. He'd had to nominate himself as the fucking Director of morale. That was how bad things were.

She'd held the show together for two years. Hell, she'd held _him_ together.

Now it was his turn.

He would support her. Well, him and her newsroom.

Will smirked. At least he'd already made a decent start.

xxx

_About a half an hour earlier_

Will left a baffled Charlie in his office without a second glance. He needed to find Mackenzie. He needed to find her, to talk. They needed to continue their conversation from the editing bay, and clear up a few things from their awful argument in the make-up room. There were so many other things she needed to know that she didn't.

He strode through the newsroom; really, he was almost running, he was so determined to find her. Except that after standing by him for years, the one time he really needed her, Mackenzie was apparently nowhere to be found. At least, no one had seen her lately.

Will was starting to panic. What if she'd snuck out somehow? She'd promised not to, but she was nearing her breaking point and...

Then, just as fear was really starting to set in, he finally found her, sitting at the anchor desk of all places. And he wasn't sure how to start. So he busied himself in getting her into a quiet corner, out of sight of everyone else. He didn't need an audience for this.

Will realized he still didn't know what to say. There was too much to say. So he, a man whose livelihood depended on being cool and articulate under pressure, blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"Have you talked to Charlie lately?"

It obviously wasn't what Mac had been expecting. "No. Why?"

Will shifted closer to her said. "Remember earlier in the editing bay, when I said if we go, you go?"

He watched as her eyes dimmed; she was obviously waiting for the axe to fall. "Yeah."

In spite of everything else going on, Will smiled. He couldn`t help it. "Apparently we're not going."

Mac's eyes widened in shock. "You mean Reese…"

Will shook his head quickly. "Haven't heard. But it doesn't matter. Charlie's decided to withdraw our resignations. Because, and I quote, _we did nothing wrong and he's not embarrassed._"

Mac continued to stare. "When did he…"

"Just now," Will told her, enjoying the expression on her face as she tried to assimilate the new information. She was obviously still fighting any spark hope, but her natural optimism seemed to be gaining a foothold. A small one, but he thought he saw it anyway.

"Just now?" she asked, her tone sceptical.

Will found he rather enjoyed her scepticism. If only because he got to reassure her. And he'd always loved their debates. He nodded. "So I ran to tell you."

That earned him another stare of absolute disbelief. _"You ran?"_

He'd run part of the way at least. Telling her the news as soon as possible had seemed crucial. "Somewhere between a run and a very fast walk," he confirmed.

To his secret delight, she almost smiled before crossing her arms across her chest. _"Will._"

"Also, there's a story," Will said quickly.

Mac just raised an eyebrow. "What story?"

"So there's this guy…" he took a breath. "Never mind. I was going to tell you a story about a guy who was too stupid to realize what he had until it was too late. But I realized that I might have forgotten the middle part, and also it'll take too long. So pretend I told you the story. The story of the guy who was an idiot and an asshole, but in the end he did the right thing."

Mac bit her lip. "Will…"

He grabbed her shoulders. "No," he said. "I'm that guy, Mac. I'm definitely that guy. The guy who took the best EP in the business for granted until he almost lost her. And I decided a few minutes ago, when I was talking to Charlie, that almost is way too close. I meant what I said to you in the editing bay. I'm here. I'm here. And I know… when we were talking in the makeup room afterwards... I know I've hurt you. I know it, Mac. And sometimes it was deliberate, or well... Yeah, it was close enough to deliberate that it's the same thing in the end. But I refuse to believe that it's too late to turn this around, to do the right thing."

Her eyes were misty now. "Will, you don't…"

But he didn't want to hear her interruptions. In fact, he wouldn't allow them. Because this time, he was certain he was right. "Were you in the control room for Don's little speech earlier?"

She swallowed, blinking rapidly to prevent the tears that were forming from falling. _"Billy…"_

And just like that, Will knew that she _had_ heard.

"_Mackenzie_," he whispered, gently wiping a stray tear from her cheek. "Apparently it's a matter of principle."

"_Will,"_ she whispered again.

He kept his voice gentle. "Besides arguing in my office for what felt like hours, do you remember what else happened on your first day back?"

She frowned in confusion. "Lots of…"

Will cut in with the answer he was looking for. "Most of my staff quit."

"I wasn't actually there for that," she reminded him.

He almost rolled his eyes. "You were there for the immediate aftermath."

She didn't say anything, so he continued. "I yelled at Sorority Girl at the college, people assumed I'd lost it, and, while I was on vacation, my EP quit and took everyone he could with him. And they all went. They all went, Mackenzie, because almost everyone hated working for me." When it looked like Mackenzie was going to interrupt, Will held up a hand to stop her. "Deserved or no, those are the _facts, _Mac. Let's fast-forward two and a half years, shall we? I report a complete fallacy and people who work with me, actually a lot of _the same people_, including my old EP, seem to be tripping over each other to fall on their swords in front of me. What do you think changed?"

"You did," she said firmly.

Will could have shaken her. Or possibly kissed her. "_Mac._"

He could practically see the stubbornness oozing off of her as she shook her head. "The situation's complicated. You can't just…"

"Life _is_ complicated," Will agreed. "But in this particular case, I think cause and effect's pretty easy to identify."

Mac bit her lip, obviously searching for a counter-argument. "Will, why are you…"

"Because for some reason only comprehensible in your crazy brain, you won't acknowledge an obvious causal relationship," he explained. "And because I am _not_ going back to how it was two and a half years ago. I'm _not, _Mackenzie. And I know it probably feels like I fight you tooth and nail sometimes, and I know sometimes I relapse, and I frustrate you and I disappoint you. But Mac, I swear, I'm here. I'm in. I'm still in. I've always been in. And sometimes I worry that you think that you've somehow tricked me into this and that it's not what I…"

She was staring at him like he'd grown a second head. "You have a clause in your contract that lets you fire me whenever you want to!" she reminded him almost hysterically.

"Not whenever I want to, just at the end of every week," Will corrected gently. Then his voice turned firm. "And I've never used it."

"Will…"

"I've never used it," he repeated emphatically, reminding himself that she'd never be able to prove otherwise. "And I never will. Anyway, that clause is just leftover from two and a half years ago when I was angry. It's more trouble than it's worth to change my contract before renegotiation."

Mackenzie continued to stare at him. Will wasn't sure what she was thinking, but he figured he should probably just continue.

"And I wanted to tell you all this right now, because I want you to know. So I half-ran through the newsroom. Telling you all this didn't matter as much earlier tonight, because I figured we were going to lose our jobs either way. But according to Charlie, we're not resigning. And we did almost everything right. So now it's become suddenly very important that you know how I feel about the position of my executive producer, and who I'd like to fill it. I'm asking you to stay, Mackenzie. I'm standing here in front of you, asking you to stay. Because I want you to."

Mac nodded once, before squeezing her eyes tight, obviously overwhelmed.

Will gripped her shoulders. "I know I hurt you," he whispered.

She shook her head. "Not now, okay?"

Will felt his stomach drop to his feet, before reminding himself that it was probably more than he deserved. After all, she hadn't said she wouldn't listen, just that she couldn't deal with it now. "I just want you to know that I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry."

She stifled a gasp. "Will…"

"Okay," he said gently, rubbing her shoulders in what he hoped was a soothing gesture. "Later."

She opened her eyes then, and he was relieved to see that she looked a little lighter. "Thank you."

"You'll stay?" he asked tentatively; he knew she'd said she would earlier, but so many things had happened in the last few hours.

"I'll stay," she said softly, before finding a little smile. "No one else would put up with you anyway."

He smiled back. "Good."

"It was never that I didn't want to stay," she assured him. "It was never that."

Will was temporarily stunned by her generosity. She really had done almost everything right. How had it taken him so long to see it?

"You're exhausted," he said softly, brushing a stray piece of hair out of her face. "I want you here, but if you need time… a vacation. You could go away for a few weeks."

"Right after a national election and a lawsuit is filed against me?" Mac asked sarcastically. "Yeah, that'd look good."

Will had to give her that. "Later then."

Mac just scowled. "I don't need a vacation. I just need a little bit of sleep."

"Or a lot of it," Will muttered.

That earned him a glare. Will was relieved to see she was looking more like herself. _"Will."_

He squeezed her shoulders again. He didn't want to stop touching her, reassuring himself that she was still standing in front of him, with him. After a moment, he let go. "Come on, we should go spread Charlie's message of continued employment."

"Or more accurately, his message of _probable_ continued employment," Mac corrected.

Will frowned at the defeatist attitude, before the irony of the situation hit him and he smirked. "Mackenzie, you really need to learn to be more optimistic."

She stared at him in shock for a moment before surprising them both with a laugh.

Will tried not to look too pleased as he led her back into the newsroom.

They walked out into the bullpen to a much different situation than they'd been expecting. After Will announced triumphantly that no one was quitting because he said so, he was loudly informed by Reese Lansing that no resignations would be accepted. Reese then loudly informed both of them that he wanted it known that he was doing the right thing, and this company did not bow to threats or outside pressure from the likes of Jerry Dantana. Will had nodded once, acknowledging the gesture.

Reese looked momentarily pleased, and a moment of understanding passed between the two men. A moment which Charlie interrupted loudly to say that Reese's gesture was irrelevant, because no one was quitting anyway.

And then all of a sudden, everyone was talking at once. Will was pretty sure he shook everybody's hand (including that of a woman who was apparently a Rockette). Through it all, he'd kept an eye on Mackenzie.

After Reese's announcement, it had apparently started to sink in that she wasn't about to lose her job. She'd turned to Charlie first. In fact, Mac had simply said his name and thrown her arms around him. Charlie had been obviously surprised, though he'd hugged Mac back readily, his eyes searching the room until they met Will's, his eyebrows raised in question

Will had simply shrugged and miming hugging. Charlie seemed to realize immediately what was going on, and after nodding once, turned his attention back to the woman in his arms, tightening his arms around her. Will thought he caught the words "Good show, Mackenzie" from the other man. After a moment, a still slightly overly emotional Mac continued on her rounds of the newsroom, congratulating everyone and anyone (Will wondered if she'd included the Rockette).

She'd hugged Maggie and Tess, and then Neal caught her arm and led her over to his computer. Mac had started scanning the screen before turning to Neal, an absolutely incandescent smile on her face. Neal looked sheepish, only to be immediately enveloped in a hug of his own. Will watched as he said something to her and pointed to Jim. Then Mac was hugging Jim.

And Will was trying not laugh, not just because the expression on Jim's face as he awkwardly patted Mackenzie on the back was pretty much priceless, but because she actually looked happy.

Which made it even harder to take his eyes off her.

He knew they still had a ways to go (and an election broadcast to finish), but it felt like a start.

Will was more than happy to take whatever he could get.

xxx

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Here's the next one. I hope you enjoy it. I'd love to hear people's thoughts.

Chapter 3

xxx

A little over two hours later, Will was quietly enjoying the end of a successful election broadcast. It had been a long, exhausting night, but it had also been a good one. There was a subdued air of celebration in the Newsroom now. Leona and Reese were still manning the phones, trying to shore up support. Most of the staffers were milling about, chatting. After all, even with everything going on, they deserved a bit of a party. Maybe they deserved it _because_ of everything going on.

Will was pretty sure they'd opened the alcohol in the control room a few hours ago.

He'd hear it in Mac's voice, which had loosened just a little towards the end of the broadcast. He'd be lying if he said the subtle shift was unpleasant. And he'd gotten to hear the sound a fair bit of it. After a bit of a rocky start, Mac and Taylor began bantering back and forth for most of the second half of the broadcast. Particularly after Mackenzie had dropped by the news desk to gloat about a certain now-accurate Wikipedia page.

Will had been amused to note that Taylor had the good sense to look both suitably impressed and a little bit chastened.

Mac's general air of exuberance probably hadn't hurt the reconciliation process. Will wasn't sure if she was overcompensating, or if her brain had just latched onto a good thing and run with it, just as a way to escape the last few weeks.

Either way, she was positively chipper now.

Will was pretty sure her current mood was mostly genuine; he was just afraid of an impending crash (he could understand that, he was half expecting to experience one himself). So Will was still keeping an eye on his EP. For her own well-being. At least, that was what he was telling himself.

Also, he just liked looking at her.

Mildly annoyed with himself for that thought, Will decided to seek out Charlie. After all, as the managing editor of Newsnight, Will figured he should probably try and get some sort of update on their progress on making friends and keeping their jobs. Charlie was no longer consulting with the Lansings, so Will took the opportunity to drift towards him.

"How you doing?" he asked.

Charlie beamed at him, "We just successfully elected a president, William."

Will smiled slightly, realizing that, given Charlie's current mood, the two of them probably wouldn't end up talking strategy for the impending lawsuit. "Apart from that."

"I've been better," Charlie admitted. "But I've also been worse."

"We're apparently not quitting," Will reminded him.

Charlie took a sip of the bourbon in his hand before answering. "Even if we wanted to, apparently Reese isn't letting us."

Will shook his head; part of him still couldn't believe that. He'd always known that Reese wasn't actually a bad guy when it came right down to it, but he did care an awful lot about profits. "You sure we don't want to?"

"Right now?" Charlie asked. "Absolutely. We'll see about tomorrow."

Will frowned slightly. "As director of morale I can't support that opinion."

Charlie turned towards him incredulously. "Speaking of which, _you're_ director of morale? _Still?_"

"Haven't we been over this?" Will reminded his boss. "Someone needs to be."

Charlie sighed, glancing back towards the crowd in the bullpen. "How's Mackenzie?"

"You've seen her," Will replied. "She's already hugged half of the room at least once. I'm crossing my fingers that she eventually meets up with Reese."

Charlie smirked. "Or Leona."

That image made Will smile. "Yeah."

Charlie watched Mac as she enthusiastically explained something to a smiling Neal. "Although, depending on if Leona's still high…"

Will chuckled. "And she's apparently become quite fond of _McMac_…"

Charlie smirked before sobering. He turned back towards Will, "Seriously, how is she?"

Will sighed. "I think she's turned a corner." It actually wasn't a lie. He really thought maybe Mackenzie was looking better. She was definitely looking a little less dead behind the eyes, but he was still slightly terrified that any given thing might send her spiraling back down into the darkness.

Charlie seemed to accept his answer though. "Good thing you didn't fire her."

Will flinched before he could help it.

Unfortunately, Charlie noticed. "_What?"_ he demanded, obviously scandalized. "Will!"

Will's expression turned firm. He needed to nip this in the bud. _Now._ "I will deny that under oath."

Charlie's expression shifted from shock to confusion. "What?"

"I _didn't_ fire her," Will insisted; he refused to admit it. "I absolutely did not."

Charlie watched him for a moment. Then he finally understood and nodded.

Will exhaled slowly in relief, hoping that no more explanation would be required. The less said about his brief, but spectacular, lapse in judgement, the better.

"You're still a moron though," Charlie muttered, sipping his drink.

Will sighed. It looked like he wasn't going to get his wish of never talking about this again. "I know. And did you not hear me?"

Charlie smirked. "The denying under oath part?"

"Yes," Will confirmed.

"I heard you," Charlie assured him. "Has Mackenzie heard you?"

"Yes," Will said decisively. And if she suddenly developed a case of selective memory (as she had been known to do in the past, when she didn't like the outcome of a conversation), he would be happy to remind her.

Charlie seemed to pick up on his determination. "You're slightly less of a moron."

Will tried to defend himself. "Okay, look, I'll admit that I don't always handle things…"

Charlie interrupted before he could continue. "You _fired_ her."

Will gritted his teeth. "I didn't."

"You're not under oath now, McAvoy," Charlie reminded him.

Will shook his head. His boss obviously didn't understand. This was not ever going to be acknowledged. "It didn't happen."

Charlie looked at him for a minute, and full understanding dawned. "Okay."

Will felt his shoulders relaxed. It was very important to him that the firing just hadn't happened. In everyone's minds. He refused to acknowledge it. That was important. _She _was important. Mac would come around eventually. He was trying to be the good guy here. It was frustrating how difficult everyone seemed to want to make that for him. Will felt a sudden need to explain himself. "And can I just say, even if there had... I'm just saying, let's suppose for argument's sake, that there had been a hypothetical time when Mackenzie was fired, because I was stupid, can't we focus on the fact that I've obviously turned it around?"

Charlie still looked wary. "Have you?"

Will gestured across the room where Mac was obviously congratulating Maggie on her good work. "Look at her."

Charlie did. "She looks like if she can't find someone to tell they did a good job tonight in the next fifteen minutes and hug, she might remember how fucked up everything still is, and then there might be tears!"

Will stood his ground. Admittedly Mac still looked a little bit shaky, but at least she wasn't just going through the motions. Her energy was a little all over the place, but at least it was _real. _"What did she look like earlier?" he demanded.

"Like she was two minutes away from slitting her…" Charlie paused, slowly taking another sip of his drink. "I take your point."

Will nodded. "Thank you." He clenched his fists. He was going to be the good guy here. Starting now. He was going to fix this. If it took everything he had.

As he stared out into the crowd, his eyes fixed on his EP, until Charlie pulled his attention back to their conversation. "Will?"

Will turned back towards his boss. "Yeah?"

Charlie hesitated. "Tonight might be going pretty well, but you know tomorrow's not going to be great, right?"

Will shook his head. He didn't want to think about that right now. "As director of morale, I…"

Now it was Charlie's turn to get serious. "No! Cut the morale nonsense! I want to talk..."

"No." Will interrupted.

Charlie looked confused. "What?"

"I said no," Will explained. He was going to be stubborn about this. "I won't be stopping. I think Director of Morale is a position that needs to be filled right now. Maybe indefinitely."

And Charlie looked like he might have figured it out. Even the parts Will wasn't quite ready to admit to. "William…"

Will quickly found a distraction. "Oh, here we go," he said gesturing to Mac, who'd just spotted Don walking into the bullpen from the control room.

"This should be good," Charlie muttered.

To both men's surprise, upon seeing Mac, Don walked over to her and, without hesitation, wrapped her in a hug far more natural than most of the awkward pats on the shoulder she'd been receiving from the other staffers.

Will mentally berated himself for not seeing it before. He had a sudden urge to thank the younger man for, when it came right down to it, being a really good guy.

Charlie was obviously thinking the same thing. "You know, I keep forgetting that Mac's known Don almost as long as she's known you."

"Yeah," Will whispered, wondering, not for the first time, exactly what went on in the control room when he was on the air. Don caught his eye from across the room and nodded once, before saying something to Mac that made her laugh.

"What was that?" Charlie asked, having obviously caught the exchange.

Will shrugged. But he knew what it was. Her newsroom knew that Mac was close to the edge (at least select people did), and they were banding together behind her. He'd seen the truth of it on Don's face. He'd seen it on Jim's. Hell, he'd seen it on _Maggie's_. Will was well aware that his own support of their cause was long overdue, but as he'd told Charlie, better late than never. And he was going to make that Mac got the support she needed.

He frowned. That was going to be difficult over the next few days, but he'd figure it out. He'd think of something. Even if they could just make it to the weekend, or if she could get some sleep...

Charlie seemed to be reading his mind. "We're going to need to stand together," he murmured.

Will nodded absently. "I know."

Charlie shook his head. "I still can't believe that you…"

"I didn't," Will insisted for what felt like the thousandth time. Then his sighed, feeling a sudden need to defend himself. Just a little. "But if I _had_, it would have been because she'd deliberately done her best to provoke me to it."

He saw immediate sympathy and understanding in the older man's eyes. "Ah."

"Yeah," Will muttered.

Charlie smiled almost wistfully. "She always did know how to push your buttons."

"Yeah." Will admitted that he'd always been a bit stupid over Mackenzie, in just about every way. Maybe it was finally time he straightened up. "As it is, the closest I came to firing Mac was to tell her that _if_ Leona fired us, she got to go too."

"Leona, or Reese as it happens, _isn't_ firing us," Charlie reminded him.

"We know that now," Will agreed. "Still, if we go, Mac goes too."

Charlie stared at him. "Like some sort of messed up Three Musketeers?"

Will almost laughed. "That was exactly her reaction!"

Charlie drained his glass and looked like he could use another. "It's an obvious reference."

"How else was I going to phrase it? And she should have been glad it wasn't a musical theatre reference." Will paused, considering. "I should tell her that."

Charlie raised an eyebrow. "There's no musical version of the Three Musketeers?"

Will shook his head. "Not that I know of. Not a particularly successful one, at least. I'm sure someone's tried at some point."

Charlie shrugged. "Must not have translated well."

"Yeah, swordplay is always notoriously unpopular in any medium," Will said sarcastically.

Charlie smirked, but conceded the point. "Wonder why we're so fascinated even hundreds of years later?"

"It looks cool?" Will suggested. "People like duels?"

Charlie had another interpretation. "Maybe they just like to see people fight for a good cause."

Will wasn't sure he was quite that optimistic yet. Even Director of Morale only stretched so far. "Maybe."

Charlie was smiling again. "I guess we'll see."

Then he glanced over Will's shoulder. "Well, speak of the devil…"

Will turned slightly, just enough to see Mackenzie drifting towards them, well, really Charlie.

He held up his hands (and empty glass) in defence. "You've already hugged me, Mackenzie."

Mac looked vaguely disappointed for a second, before brightening. "I know."

Will scowled at his boss. Had he not been paying attention to any of their conversation? Surely Charlie hadn't been that drunk. Would it have killed him to let Mac hug him twice? Anyway, Mac was running out of people to hug. She'd hugged half of the room since the end of the broadcast. Almost everyone that she worked closely with. Not quite. Almost everyone though. Will could think of at least one person that she hadn't… Not since Reese's announcement at least.

Smiling gently, Will grabbed her elbow and tugged her towards him. "Come here," he said softly. He wasn't Charlie, but he hoped she didn't mind the substitution.

He saw wariness flash across her face just before he pulled her into his arms. It frustrated him, but he understood why it was there. He ignored it.

He'd been serious about being there for her, whatever she needed.

After a few moments of stiffness, Mac seemed to realize that, relaxing into his arms.

Will let his eyes slip shut in relief. Just for a second.

He tightened his hold on her instinctively.

He was realizing just a little bit too late how central Mac was, and that he'd let her falter just a little too long. And he'd only realized it a few hours earlier when he'd realized how deliberately he'd been hurting her over the past few years. He was an idiot.

Now he needed to make sure she was okay. He needed to…

Maybe he needed this hug just as much as she did. Maybe he needed it more.

Either way, he was in this for the long haul.

xxx

Charlie watched in shock as Will gently pulled Mackenzie into his arms. Much like Don's earlier hug, this wasn't a token hug of a colleague. It wasn't even the hug of a close friend. Will wrapped himself around his EP's smaller frame completely. He slid an arm around her shoulders and one around her waist, holding her against him.

And eventually Mackenzie just let herself slide into place.

In fact, Charlie realized that, tucked under Will's chin, she was possibly the most relaxed he'd seen her in months.

Or maybe she was just absolutely exhausted and couldn't pretend any longer.

Charlie watched as Will leaned in and whispered something in her ear.

The older man couldn't hear the words, but their effect was plain enough.

Mackenzie gasped and buried her head against Will's neck as he tightened his grip and whispered something else. Or maybe it was the same thing again, Charlie wasn't sure.

He scoffed. Director of morale indeed. Director of one person's morale maybe. Everyone else was incidental.

He hoped to God this was enough for Will to get his head out of his ass.

And Charlie had to admit, Will's technique wasn't without merits. After all, Mackenzie's mood did tend to reflect that of the newsroom. If she cheered up, the others would follow.

Still, Charlie couldn't help wondering what Will had whispered.

xxx

"My closest friend and most trusted partner."

Mac squeezed her eyes tight as he whispered the words against her ear a second time.

She didn't know why he kept saying them, but she didn't want him to stop. It had been an absolutely terrible month, for so many reasons. And the two of them had faced off more than once, but all of a sudden, Will had apparently decided to be absolutely lovely.

Mac wasn't naive. She wasn't counting on it lasting. She was sure it wouldn't. But she couldn't help letting herself enjoy it. Just for a few minute.

Will gave the best hugs. Don's were good too, better than Jim's who, despite many wonderful qualities, was awkward. Maggie's had at least been genuine. Most people's had been perfunctory. Will hugged like he meant it.

Although, she supposed she probably shouldn't take advantage.

Mac moved to pull away, surprised when he tightened his grip for just a second longer. After their emotionally charged confrontation in the make-up room, it wasn't what she expected, even given their earlier conversation in an isolated corner of an editing bay.

She still couldn't sort it all out in her head. Will had been angry enough to fire her a few hours ago and now he was…

If she tilted her head just so, she could smell the remnants of his cologne. Familiar and comforting and, and… sexy as hell.

Mac wished she could block the awfulness of the past week from her brain.. When she was here, like this, she actually felt like she could.

She could almost forget the expression on his face when he'd fired her.

She'd been the one to make him that angry. She'd done it deliberately. And maybe it had been stupid, but she'd thought it the right thing at the time. And then he hadn't been angry. Worse than that, he'd been hurt. But then, a little while later, he'd asked her to stay with him, at NewsNight. Then, an hour after that, he'd told her the supposed engagement ring he'd told her he'd bought her had been a prank, a joke, a deliberate attempt to hurt. With that, Mac had been torn apart all over again, and praying that by midnight she actually would be fired. Then he'd apologized. _Again_. And he'd said that he'd… That he'd…

Closing her eyes tightly, Mac snuggled against him. Just for a second. Just one more second.

Maybe two.

_His closest friend and most trusted partner._

She liked the sound of that.

It was one thing she knew for sure.

That and she was so very tired.

Sighing to herself, Mac pulled away, knowing it was probably well past time.

This time Will let her go. Though he did keep one hand lightly on the small of her back. Mac turned her attention back to the rest of the bullpen.

Only to see Charlie smiling at her.

"Come here Mackenzie," he said softly.

Mac bit her lip, trying to tamp down on a smile. A gentleman through and through was Charlie Skinner. And an unbelievably kind man. "I thought I already gave you a hug."

Charlie's smile reached his eyes. "Well, give me another one."

Mac found that she didn't need to be asked twice. She'd probably given and received more hugs tonight than she had in the last year, but she didn't care. Not today.

"You were wonderful tonight, Mackenzie," Charlie assured her. "Good show."

Mac went with the joke. "Well, I heard the threats if I failed."

"I'd have tossed you in the river myself," Charlie assured her, pulling back. "But you were never going to fail."

Mac found a smile for him then. "Damn straight."

Charlie chuckled. "You deserve a drink. And I know I could use a refill."

Her smile widened. "Well, if you're offering…"

"I am," he assured her. "Will?"

He shrugged. "Sure."

Charlie nodded. "I'll be right back."

Mac watched him go, affection bubbling up in her chest. She still couldn't quite believe that this wasn't over. That they might… A voice interrupted her thoughts from over her shoulder.

"He's right, you know," Will said, shifting slightly closer to her. "You really were spectacular tonight."

She felt the warmth in a mini-explosion in her chest. She couldn't look at him right now. She was still reeling from, well, everything. But mostly from Will's apparent abrupt shift in behaviour towards her. Which she certainly wasn't complaining about. All things considered, it was hard to imagine ways the night could get better. Though it hadn't been perfect in the early parts. "Apart from my melt-down at Taylor mid-show," she said self-deprecatingly as she turned towards him.

Bastard had the nerve to smirk. "No, that was pretty spectacular too."

To her shock, Mac found herself laughing. familiar affection welling up, "Billy."

To her surprise, she realized that the smirk wasn't meant to be superior, just pleased.

Her smile softened. "Neil and Jim fixed my Wikipedia page," she gloated, though she was sure he already knew.

Will nodded, "You're back to having attended Cambridge."

Mac glared at him. "I'd always attended Cambridge, Billy! Let's be very clear here. It was that stupid website that said that I hadn't. Idiotic website that doesn't even accept the subject of an article as a source! I should write them a letter! Anyway, at no point did my actual degree change."

"Yours and Sir Isaac Newton's," Will murmured, obviously amused.

Mac felt her spine straightening as she drew herself up to her full height. "Are you mocking Cambridge, Billy?"

"No ma'am," he assured her with an almost boyish grin. God, he looked good. What was wrong with her all of a sudden?

"Good," Mac nodded, trying to keep her thoughts in check.

Then his smile widened and Mac knew she was seriously in trouble. "I'm mocking you."

She stared at him in a kind of wonder. Where had this playful Will come from? And how long was he planning on staying? All Mac said was. "I can take you."

"I know," he assured her.

"Am I interrupting something?" Charlie asked, walking up with their drinks.

Will turned and grabbed one of the glasses of bourbon, leaving Charlie to hand the second to Mac. "Just Mac's threats to keep me in line," he explained.

"Oh, well then," Charlie said, shrugging elegantly. He raised his glass. "To sticking to our guns."

Mac raised her glass with the two men next to her as they silently toasted their show, albeit not in name.

"I do love elections," Charlie murmured. "They might be one of my favourite parts of being in the news. At their core, they really are about letting the people speak."

"Tonight was a good night," Will agreed. "Here's to more like it."

Mac raised her glass again.

Beside her, Charlie sighed. "Looks like tonight's not over yet," he said, downing his glass. Mac turned in the direction he was looking, just in time to see Leona beckoning to him.

"Guess I better go see what that's about," Charlie muttered.

"Do you need me?" Will asked.

Charlie shook his head. "Nah. Your place is here. Besides, some of us should get some sleep tonight."

Will just nodded. "Let me know if anything changes."

"If it does, unless it's an absolute emergency, it can wait until morning. But if by some chance it looks like the world is ending, I'll give you a call," Charlie promised. "Have a good night, you two," he said before heading towards Leona.

"Sometimes I think he'll outlive us all," Will murmured.

"He just may," Mac replied. "Well, maybe not Leona."

Will laughed softly. "No, not Leona. She'll be around forever, if only to drive Reese crazy."

Mac just smiled. She couldn't be bothered to formulate a reply. The background noise in the bullpen was beginning to blend together, adding to the sensation that her brain was slowly being stuffed with cotton wool. She sipped her drink and turned back towards Will, unsure of what to say now.

He was watching her carefully, and he spoke first. "You're exhausted."

She winced. Oh how she'd missed his winning ways. "You said that already today," she reminded him. "I'm fine."

He shook his head. "You're dead on your feet. Come on, let me take you home."

She shook her head stubbornly. She was exhausted, but when was she not? Sure, this was worse than usual, but she had things to do. She was used to powering through. "I should stay. Be with the staff…"

Will cut her off. "You'll be no good to the staff if you run yourself to the ground."

"The lawsuit…" Mac objected.

"Will still be here in the morning," Will reminded her. "Whether you sleep or not. And I think I speak for everyone when I point out that it would probably be better for everyone if you did. Also, it's not like there's anything you're going to be able to do about the lawsuit tomorrow morning."

Mac bit her lip, part of her knew she was right, but another part of her just couldn't… She was the executive producer. This was her newsroom. She should be here.

Will smiled sympathetically. "Come on Mac. I'm too tired to argue with you, which should tell you something. I can grab our stuff from our offices, and you can say goodbye to everyone. _Quickly_. And then you can let me take you home, at which point you can finally get some sleep. Do I really need to remind you of the effect that your recent lack of sleep is having on your otherwise superlative appearance.

She grimaced. "You mentioned that already," she muttered. "You sweet talker you." She knew she probably wasn't looking her best, but honestly, did he really need to keep pointing that out? Especially since, apart from looking a little tired, he still looked as good as ever, if a little concerned.

But on the other hand, she was too tired to argue with him, and it seemed like he knew it.

She felt his hand on her elbow, and her resistance crumbled just a little bit more. "You know you're a beautiful woman, Mac," he assured her. "I'm just trying to see that you get your beauty sleep. And y'know, also the bare minimum of sleep required that you can actually remain vertical for the fourteen to sixteen hour days you've been putting in lately."

"Will," she whispered, annoyed with herself for being pleased by the fact that he was calling her beautiful, but also, so very, very tired, and just wanting to give in.

"Go say goodbye to Jim," he pushed gently. "I'll get your stuff. Your bag is still in its normal place?"

And with that Mac finally admitted that she wasn't going to be able to remain vertical for long, let alone interact with anyone at the party. "Yeah," she sighed. "I'll say goodbye."

Will just squeezed her elbow. "See you in a few minutes."

She didn't answer, already searching for her senior producer.

xxx


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: So, there's almost always one scene that results in a fic getting written for me. For this fic, it's in this chapter. I hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 4

xxx

Mac felt somewhat smug when she realized that, after all of Will's warning that her goodbyes had better be quick, she actually managed to extricate herself from the party before he did. She supposed it wasn't his fault; he kept getting waylaid by staffers on his way to the door, and he _had_ volunteered to grab their stuff (of which there seemed to be more than she'd been expecting, but she was too tired to pay too much notice).

Still, she'd definitely made it out of the bullpen a good three minutes ahead of him.

He was grumbling when he did finally make it out of the room. The grumbling was fake, obviously, but he was grumbling nonetheless. Her rather pointed glance at her watch didn't help. She almost laughed at his expression.

"Sorry," Will said as he met her in the hall. "All of a sudden every single staff member we have seemed to need to say something utterly unimportant to me."

"I'm sure they weren't all unimportant," Mac said softly, watching him through slightly drooping eyelids.

"Maybe not all," Will conceded with a smalls mile. "Maybe only 90%."

She smiled back, deciding to let herself feel happy for thirty seconds. She was sure her day would catch up to her eventually, but right now... "You don't fool me, William McAvoy. I can see right through you."

He huffed softly. Mac wasn't sure if it was laughter or irritation. She didn't care. Because suddenly his hand was on the small of her back (though she wasn't quite sure how, given all the bags he was juggling) and his voice was indulgent above her head. "Come on Mac, let's get you home."

Mac let herself lean up against him slightly, any remaining energy deserting her so she was suddenly so tired that perfectly upright was maybe more effort than she was capable of right now. Still, it wouldn't do to follow his advice without even a little bit of a fight. She tilted her head up towards him. "Not until you admit that you aren't really upset that the staff wanted to say goodbye and good job before you left."

This time his sigh was definitely exaggerated irritation. "Fine," he told her. "In the interests of getting you out of here before you fall over, I guess I'm not that upset."

"And you like the staff," Mac prompted.

She definitely caught the ghost of a smile that time. "And I like the staff," he admitted, guiding her towards the elevator and pushing the button.

"I know you do," she said sleepily, leaning more heavily against his shoulder as they waited for the elevator to arrive at their floor.

"Hey," Will said softly. "You still with me?"

Mac nodded slowly. She wasn't asleep. No worries on that score. Long work days weren't the only reason she hadn't been sleeping lately. Even when she did lie down, she couldn't seem to actually relax enough to drop off. But closing her eyes for a minute felt nice. And honestly, leaning up against Will like this, she wondered if maybe she would be able to shut out the rest of the world, just long enough to fall asleep for a little while.

It wasn't practical, obviously. She couldn't actually sleep standing up, and she knew Will would see her safely home, but it was her responsibility to make sure she was with it enough to get through her front door. Mac sighed. Because once she did get inside her apartment, she was sure she'd make it to her bed, only to lie awake, trying to keep despair at bay. A good thing might have happened today; she might not be fired anymore, but things were far from all right.

And she doubted sleep would come easy.

So she decided to lean slightly against Will and pretend. Just for a minute.

The two of them were quiet the entire ride down the elevator. Mac was content to let Will guide her. She didn't even blink when he slid into the cab after her. Truthfully, she'd been expecting it. She knew would want to see her right to her front door.

The unexpected didn't happen until she tried to give the cabbie her address and Will overrode her with his own.

Mac's eyes snapped open in surprise. "Will?"

Will was staring stubbornly ahead beside her. Mac knew that expression. She knew there'd be no changing his mind. Still, she didn't understand. She didn't... "Will?" she said again softly, touching her hand to his as the cab started to move, the cabbie apparently taking her lack of objection as approval.

Still, Mac had to be sure. "Where are we going?"

"Home," Will said, still not looking at her.

She shook her head, not sure if he was even paying enough attention to see it. "But…"

He looked at her then. "I said I was going to take you home. At no point did I specify that we were going to yours."

Mac almost laughed at the verbal loophole, but confusion still clouded her brain. She could see the determination in his eyes though, knew he'd already decided, but... She tried once more. "Will."

"You're not sleeping! You were barely even upright a minute ago!" Will hissed, clenching his fist slightly, before relaxing. "I'm going to make sure you get some sleep. If I thought a phone call from my apartment would do it..." He took a breath. "But I think you'll just lie to me over the phone, when it comes right down to it. You'll say you're going to bed, but really, you'll be on your laptop trying to research something to fix... I don't know. But you'll be doing _something._ So I thought I'd... I just want to make sure you get some sleep, Mackenzie."

Mac stared at him, not sure where any of this was coming from. When he'd said he'd take her home, she'd just assumed he'd meant he'd take her to _her_ home, before going his own way. And now she was... confused. "Will," she said a third time.

He turned towards her, his eyes pleading. "Just let me do this, Mac," he said quietly. "Just trust me. Okay? I just need you to trust me."

With that, Mac knew that, even if she'd had the energy to, she'd never be able to refuse him. She let her eyes flutter shut again. She still wasn't sure how she felt about this, but she did trust him... She did. She trusted him not to hurt her hurt her at least. Except that he _had._ He had. It was over a year ago, and he'd apologized, repeatedly. So maybe it was okay? (Or maybe it wasn't. She was so tired.) Either way, in the last few hours he'd been absolutely lovely.

And she loved him. God she loved him.

She really was so very tired. She could certainly live with the unexpected turn of events. After all, she could lie awake in his spare room just as easily as at her own house. "Okay," she whispered.

She felt some of the tension drain out of him as he tentatively took her hand. "It'll be okay, Mackenzie," he said softly. "It'll be okay."

She wished she could believe it.

She let his fingers thread through hers. And she let him keep them there for the rest of the ride.

She didn't even resist when he pulled her out of the cab and into his building.

Because she wasn't just tired.

And she wanted to trust him more than anything in the world.

xxx

It wasn't until Will was unlocking the door to his apartment that the reality of the situation hit Mackenzie. Or, at least the practicalities did.

This was _Will'_s apartment. She didn't keep things here anymore. And like hell was she using anything one of his other women (_i.e._ _Nina goddamn Howard_) had left lying around. Mac was about to raise the issue (without any clear idea of what she would propose as a solution), when she realized exactly why Will seemed to have so many bags.

Or really just one extra one.

Because as he always did, Will _had _thought of the practicalities.

He hadn't just grabbed her purse. He'd grabbed the bag she'd kept by her desk for as long as she'd been a reporter. The one that contained basic toiletries and a change of clothes. In the past, she'd used it when she was chasing a story. Now she used it when she pulled an all-nighter at the office (or as a back-up outfit against an unfortunate coffee spill).

She was biting back a sob as Will swung open the front door.

Unfortunately, he heard her.

"What's wrong?" he asked, spinning around sounding panicked.

Mac ducked past him into the apartment, shaking her head furiously. What could she possibly say by way of explanation? That she was just as horribly in love with him as ever, and unfortunately too tired to do even a passable job of hiding it? That certainly wouldn't help the situation. And it wasn't fair, especially when Will was trying so hard to do a nice thing.

"Sorry," she muttered, wiping her eyes quickly. "I guess everything just caught up with me for a minute."

To her surprise Will seemed to accept that.

"Why don't you go get changed?" he suggested gently. "I brought your bag," he paused. "Or, if there's nothing in there to sleep in, you can always borrow something."

Mac bit her lip. She did have something in her bag that she could sleep in, but she still wanted to borrow something. She wanted to borrow one of his shirts and curl up in it. But she also didn't want to step too far, for both their sakes. So instead she just sent him a smile. "Thanks."

Will just nodded and handed her the bag and she headed towards his bedroom.

Once she got there, she resisted the urge to poke around a bit. Well, not beyond opening a few of the drawers at least. She wasn't _that_ tired. She did manage to resist trying out the bed, but only because she wasn't sure she'd be able to get up again if she sat down on it. Instead she busied herself in getting out of the clothes she'd been wearing for the better part of twenty-four hours. She focused on finding the pair of leggings she was sure she'd stuffed in her back.

Because this situation was not at all weird.

A few minutes later, Mack walked back into the living room wearing an old over-sized t-shirt (hers), a pair of leggings and her hair in a ponytail. She'd compromised on the borrowing clothes issue by stealing a pair of Will's wool socks. Her feet were freezing. Okay, she'd stolen the socks and a sweatshirt. Because all of a sudden all of her was freezing, and she'd needed the extra warmth, even if not to sleep in.

Now she just needed to find Will, and figure out exactly what he had in mind for sleeping arrangements.

Except that Will wasn't in the living room as she'd expected him to be. She padded through the apartment, intent on her search.

She found him in the kitchen, busying himself over the stove. And she realized that something smelled really, really good.

Mac swallowed slowly, not sure if her hands were shaking slightly of cold or something else. "Will?"

He turned immediately at the sound of her voice, smiling slightly he pulled out a stool at the counter. When Mac slid onto it, he set a plate in front of her. One with whole wheat toast and scrambled eggs, lightly cooked, heavy on the milk. Mac knew they'd practically dissolve in her mouth as she ate them.

She'd always loved her eggs that way.

She just stared.

She hadn't even been gone ten minutes. Apart from everything else, how had he even managed to do this?

"You need to eat something," Will muttered awkwardly, trying to fill the awkward silence before turning back to the stove and cracking another egg in his frying pan.

Mackenzie opened her mouth, shut it, and opened it again. "This is lovely of you, but you didn't need to..."

He interrupted her, his tone clipped. "When was the last time you ate?"

Her hesitation probably gave him the most accurate answer; if it didn't, the smell of the eggs and frying butter reaching her nose and causing her stomach to growl definitely did. Will just chuckled, pulling another couple of slices of toast from the toaster and buttering them.

And Mac wished her brain didn't feel so scattered. She couldn't focus. This was starting to feel like a fugue state, or a hallucination, or... God, she hoped she wasn't actually passed out somewhere in a corner of the newsroom. She shook herself slightly, determined to pull herself together. This was actually happening. She was in Will's apartment and he was cooking for her after sixteen hours in the office. "You don't need to do this," she said again, her voice breaking slightly.

He set his spatula down with an audible clack. "Yes I do, and I want to."

"Will…"

But apparently he'd reached his breaking point with her. He spun around to face her, his eyes full of fire. "It wasn't your fault, Mackenzie. _It wasn't your fault._ You did next to nothing wrong. And I'm worried about you. I've been worried about you a lot lately; that's not a thing you can change. And you know what? I _want_ to be worried about you!"

And Mac found she had nothing to say to that.

xxx

Will winced at the startled expression on her face. He took a deep breath and ran a hand over his face, trying to calm himself down. He hadn't meant to snap; he knew she was utterly exhausted. "Fuck! That came out wrong," he muttered, turning away from her wide eyes to flip his egg. He used the moment to calm down, before turning back towards her, looking slightly calmer, or maybe just slightly farther away from some kind of emotional cliff. He'd known bring her here would be a risk, but it'd felt like one he needed to take.

He tried to explain himself better. "I don't want you to be upset, but if you are upset, then I don't want to have to feel like I need to justify being concerned. Of course I'm concerned! You're Mac. Of course I'll be worried if you're so upset that you're not goddamned sleeping! I want it to be just that simple. And you know what? Maybe it is. I'm just so sick of feeling like I should be angry at you, or that you deserve it. I hate being that guy. I hate… Before, in the make-up room, when I told you about buying the ring… And then you…" He paused, shaking his head, trying to block the image of her face from his brain.

"I don't ever want to see that expression on your face when you're looking at me again. Ever. Ever Mac. Do you hear me? I'm so sick of being the guy that hurts you. I don't want to hurt you. So I'm going to stop. I'm just going to stop. And I understand that you might not believe me. I understand that it's going to take time before you stop expecting me to… For you to trust…" He swallowed, leaning slightly over her on her stool. "I'm going to make you eggs and make sure you sleep and worry about you. I just am."

He needed her to understand. His practically bulletproof Mackenzie had finally been wounded so badly that she was struggling. The whole ride back to his apartment, when she'd been looking lost and vulnerable, all he'd wanted to do was cuddle her to him and protect her. He couldn't save her from the world, but he could make sure she didn't collapse from exhaustion or hunger.

To Will's relief, Mackenzie didn't object again.. Instead she just leaned forward slightly and dropped her into his chest. _"Billy…"_

And the softness and sweetness in her voice wrapped around his heart better than any hug. He'd give her all the hugs she wanted, he'd make her eggs in the middle of the night for the rest of his goddamn life, if she'd only keep saying his name just like that.

Billy. He'd always loved the nickname. Had he ever told her? Probably not. Maybe he didn't need to. "Eat your eggs, okay Kenz?"

He felt more than heard her gasp and answering nod against his chest, as she discretely wiped a tear from her cheek.

Will stepped away from her slowly and slid his own eggs onto the toast waiting on his plate, making a fried egg sandwich, to which he added cheese but no bacon, because she wasn't the only one who needed sleep tonight.

He only let himself relax when he saw her take a forkful of her eggs.

The feeling didn't last long, as she let out a quiet moan of approval the second they touched her tongue.

"I'd almost forgotten how good a cook you are," she muttered

Will was struck with a sudden urge to grab her and make all sorts of promises about what he'd cook for her, but he tamped it down. Even if he could make the promise, now really wasn't the time. "Thanks," he muttered awkwardly. "I don't get a chance to do it much, with our schedules." The truth was, he'd always hated cooking for one, but he wasn't about to tell her that. That would make it worse. Instead he said, "Besides, it's only eggs."

"Just the way I like them," she murmured, glancing at him, her eyes suddenly soft.

There was nothing to say to that either. _Of course_ he remembered how she liked her eggs. He remembered a lot of things. Actually, he remembered everything. All the facts he'd learned about her. They haunted him, popping up when he least expected them to.

Today, with her looking exhausted in his kitchen, dwarfed by his socks and sweatshirt, was one of the few times he'd been glad of them in three years. If only because it meant that he knew she'd never actually eat anything heavy this late at night, but she'd never be able to resist the eggs. And her plate was almost empty.

Will took a bite of his own snack. He figured her sleep schedule wasn't the only thing she'd been neglecting. At least he'd gotten a few calories into her.

He swore that not only was she looking exhausted, but she was starting to lose weight, starting to look gaunt.

And now he just wanted to feed her and tuck her into bed and _feed her._

She'd been quiet the entire ride to his apartment for Christ sakes. Quiet. _Mackenzie._

It wasn't right. So he was going to make it so.

Instead of explaining all of that to her (because goddamn it, he still didn't have the words, and he didn't think he could stand to watch her stare at him in confusion because the idea that he might want to take care of her was apparently fucking incomprehensible to her right now), he just smiled softly at her.

"Want more eggs?" he asked, chuckling when her eyes lit up.

xxx

She'd eaten two plates of eggs so sinfully delicious she almost couldn't believe they were real.

But then, there were a lot of things about this evening that Mackenzie couldn't quite believe were real.

She wanted to, oh she wanted to.

More than anything in the world. Maybe even more than sleep.

As it was, she was so tired (the minor burst of energy she'd experienced when he'd presented her with eggs had disappeared as quickly as it'd come) that all she wanted to do was forget her pride and wrap her arms around him and not let go until it felt like the world wasn't going to crack apart around her. She couldn't do that of course, even if the way the night was going, it didn't seem like Will would mind (_why wouldn't he mind?_)

Because maybe tonight _was_ real, but that sure as hell didn't mean it was permanent. That was the thing Mac forced herself to remember as she leaned her head on her hand at Will's counter while he busied himself with the dishes (Mackenzie had half-heartedly offered to help, but he'd just smiled and pointed out that even drying them would probably require her to be vertical). She finally felt warm and comfortably full (even though she hadn't even realized she was hungry fifteen minutes ago) and she was trying to let herself enjoy the feeling.

Just not too much.

Because obviously she'd let things slide a little too close to the edge, until Will felt some sort of moral obligation to step in, or something. Some sort of misguided sense of duty (or guilt).

It wasn't anything more than that.

It was a gesture of friendship, of renewed partnership over the show. Yes. That was what it was.

Mackenzie let the word slide around her brain. Partnership. Will was a good partner. She'd always known that. (Except for those first few months, when she'd still been a blind idiot.)

At least they still had the newsroom. For a little while at least.

Even that was tainted now.

Mac let her eyes slide shut and tried to focus on the good. Charlie's eyes, tired, but still sparkling. Reese's announcement that ACN wasn't going to be bullied by a Senior Producer without even the most basic journalistic ethics, Maggie's (almost) unbroken smile, Neal's pride as he showed her the corrected Wikipedia page, Jim's awkward hug, Don's friendly smirk, and Will whispering again and again that she was his partner, his most trusted partner.

Sitting here, like this, Mac could almost convince herself that they would get through this.

She was jolted gently from her reverie by a nudge against her side.

Mac opened her eyes to see Will smiling down at her.

"Come on sleepyhead," he said softly, offering her a hand to help her off the stool. "Let's get you to bed."

Mac just nodded, the tired fogginess having taken up residence in her brain again. She wondered if she'd finally managed to exhaust herself to sleep.

She went willingly as Will pushed her into the bathroom and handed her her little bag of toiletries without even questioning how he'd known where it was. And when she shuffled out, her teeth freshly brushed and her face washed and the soon-to-be-unneeded sweatshirt in her hands, he was waiting for her. Then he was taking the sweatshirt from her and tossing it into a laundry basket, leading her towards a bed and flipping back the blankets, encouraging her in with a hand on her waist.

It wasn't until she was tucked snuggly under the covers that Mackenzie finally registered where she was, and it wasn't the guess room.

Her eyes slid open. "_Will..."_

He must have heard the shock in her voice, because his hand was soothing on her shoulder. "Shhh..." he whispered. "It's okay, Mac. Don't worry about it, any of it. Just sleep. We'll figure it out in the morning."

And so she tried to follow his advice, snuggling deeper into ridiculously luxurious bedding, breathing deeply to catch the hints of laundry detergent and his cologne and _Will._ And being surrounded by that particular combination of subtle scents did what weeks of absolute exhaustion hadn't come close to. Mackenzie felt herself relaxing as she slid halfway into sleep.

She was three quarters of the way there when she felt the bed dip beside her a few minutes later, and relaxation was disrupted by a flash of hope. She gripped the pillow, trying to resist seeking out the tempting extra warmth.

Maybe Will recognized her dilemma, or maybe he thought she was already asleep, because moments later Mackenzie felt an arm slip around her waist. She took advantage of being able to claim that she was barely conscious and snuggled back against him, closer and closer and just _Will._

She smiled when she felt his arm tighten around her and finally let herself relax completely.

It might only be a temporary solution, but right now, she was going to take whatever she could get. As Will said, she'd deal with the rest in the morning.

She let herself breathe deeply, losing herself in his warmth.

Safe.

Sound.

_Right._

She wasn't sure it was real, but Mac swore she felt the brush of lips against her temple. And then, surrounded by Will, she succumbed.

_Sleep_.

xxx

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Sorry for the delay with this chapter. The story's all in my head, but for whatever reason I'm having trouble actually writing it down. I promise I'll get to it, albeit slowly. Hope you enjoy this one, and thanks to everyone who have reviewed previous chapters. I appreciate it (even if I am horribly behind on my review replies).

Chapter 5

xxx

The first thing she became aware of was coffee.

Well, coffee, and a gentle _something_ on her shoulder. A something that it took a few minutes to identify as a hand, shaking her awake.

And then a soft voice came into play. _"Mackenzie…"_

Mac let out a moan of annoyance as she tried to snuggle deeper into the blankets. She was warm and comfortable, and she wasn't moving. Even for really good smelling coffee.

Besides, she felt like she could sleep for a day, and in her current state of half-asleep, was having trouble coming up with a reason why she shouldn't.

Her stubborn burrowing into the bedding resulted in a huff of laughter from outside of her protective shelter. And the hand on her shoulder became slightly less gentle. "Come on, Mac."

The words were enough to jolt her a little further out of her cocoon; finally registering the sound of his voice Mac finally became conscious enough to recognize that this wasn't her normal. There wasn't coffee in her apartment unless she made it, and her alarm clock was a creature from hell that let off a siren shrill enough to jolt her awake, not a gruff but gentle voice that slipped past through the corners of her brain, gently coaxing her awake. She gripped her hands tighter in the bedding, fighting against the puzzle, only to realize that the blankets she was currently holding in a death grip were far fluffier than her own. Her eyes snapped open and Mac was confronted by Will, _Will_, crouched down by the bed, and setting a steaming coffee mug on the bedside table.

She was in _Will's_ bed. And he was wearing a goddamn t-shirt and sweatpants.

With that, the night before all came flooding back. Mac closed her eyes again, remembering the way he'd steered her to his home, fed her, cared for her, and then literally _wrapped_ himself around her. She bit her lip, remembering the warmth of him surrounding her, how much she'd wanted it, maybe even needed it.

And she'd actually relaxed. For the first time in months. Relaxed against him.

Now he was waking her. Like this was normal, like it was _real_.

Mackenzie squeezed her eyes shut more tightly, trying to contain the emotion swelling in her chest.

Will seemed oblivious to her struggle. "Come on sleepyhead," he murmured indulgently with another shake to her shoulder.

Mentally acknowledging that she'd have to face him eventually, Mac blinked her eyes open again, only to be confronted by laughing eyes (_blue_, _so blue_) and slightly dishevelled hair. Her eyes skimmed over the t-shirt and sweatpants again before slowly sliding back up to his face, and his hair. And then it hit her.

Will hadn't showered yet.

Mackenzie buried her head back into the pillow with another moan.

_He wasn't hers. He wasn't hers. He wasn't hers._

He wasn't hers, and she still had an almost irrepressible urge to pull him back into bed with her.

Him and his hair. Mac peeked out at it again. There was a piece sticking out practically horizontally near the back. She remembered that particular piece well. He always took care to keep it tame at work, but even Will McAvoy didn't wake up perfectly looking camera-ready.

The wave of affection nearly swamped her and her fingers itched to reach out and smooth it down. She wasn't awake enough to deal with this yet. Wasn't awake enough to ensure that she wouldn't do something horribly embarrassing.

Will was really smiling now. "Morning," he said cheerfully. "Ready to join the land of the living?"

Mac made a noncommittal noise. After all, a dream world sounded pretty good right now. Maybe she was in one already. Maybe that would explain the last twelve hours or so.

The laughter in Will's eyes dimmed somewhat. "I'm sorry," he said softly, sounding genuinely regretful, thought Mac wasn't sure why; he'd been wonderful. He continued, "I wouldn't have woken you... Lord knows, you need the sleep. But I also knew you'd kill me if I let you miss the first rundown meeting."

That sliced through the fog in Mac's mind better than anything else. She sat bolt upright in bed in shock. "Rundown meeting?" she said in a panic. "What time is it? Billy! The lawsuit!"

Will's expression was firm. "Was filed exactly twenty minutes ago.'

Mac gaped at him. "I can't believe I slept… I can't believe you _let me_…"

Will overrode her objections. "And what would you have done, exactly?" he asked. "What could _you_, Mackenzie McHale, _Executive Producer_, do that ACN's very well paid - as I've been assured over and over - lawyers haven't already done?"

Mac opened her mouth only shut it again when she couldn't think of an answer. She blamed the hour… Well, the fact that she'd just woken up.

Will nodded at her silence. "Exactly. There's nothing either of us can do."

"I could have been there," she muttered

"For who?" Will asked incredulously. "For Leona? For Reese? I assure you, neither of them was there in person."

"For the staff," Mac said stubbornly, her brain starting to kick into gear.

"None of them were there either," Will replied. "And I decided that the best thing for everyone would be if you actually got a full night's sleep before you did the show tonight. Always better to have a boss who's had enough sleep to keep her functional."

Mac opened her mouth to argue (she was pretty sure she'd been functioning _just fine_ the night before, what with her practically _flawless_ election coverage) when another thought distracted her. "Wait, the lawsuit's already been filed?"

"Yep," Will confirmed easily, standing up slowly.

"It's after nine," she said softly, glancing at the clock, noticing the cup of steaming coffee still sitting beside it. She reached for it with one hand, while running her other hand through her hair, realizing that Will probably wasn't the only one whose hair looked a little disheveled. She pushed that thought out of her mind. She had more important things to focus on right now.

"Yeah," Will agreed, confirming the hour yet again

Mac took a minute to appreciate the smell of really good coffee coming from the mug in her hand. She'd actually gotten a normal amount of sleep. More than four hours hadn't happened in… She didn't remember. She'd probably gotten more sleep last night than she'd gotten in the entire week preceding it.

She glanced back at Will, feeling a little lost. "I can't believe it's after nine," she whispered, sipping her coffee, a fresh pang surfacing around her heart when she realized it was perfect. She always took her first cup of the day sweeter than the rest. And he'd remembered that. Of course he had.

Will looked almost sad. He tentatively reached out and stroked her shoulder (even though she was awake now). "I'll just let you finish waking up then," he said awkwardly. "I made coffee," he said, gesturing to the mug in her hands. "There's more in the kitchen if you want it. Feel free to help yourself, and to any food you find. I'm going to take a shower…"

Mac nodded, feeling the awkwardness, and wanting more than anything else to set her mug back on the table and throw her arms around him to try and dispel it (things hadn't been awkward last night, when he'd held her, though that might have been the exhaustion talking). Instead she just nodded. "Thanks."

As she'd known he would, Will waved away her gratitude, turning and walking to the door. "Oh," he said, turning back before he got halfway. "I brought in the Post and the Times," he said, gesturing towards the bed. "I know you like to…" He cleared his throat. "At least you used to."

Mac glanced to the space on the bed beside her, where there were indeed two newspapers. She'd always loved reading the paper in bed, first thing. Just to steal an extra few minutes in the cozy warmth, minutes she could justify since it was productive for work anyway. She blinked rapidly, blaming the moisture at the corners of her eyes on being half awake. "Do I even want to read them today?" she asked dryly.

Will shrugged. "I almost forgot that you know the Times' newest political editor. Post isn't quite as… Well, you'll see."

She stared at him, not entirely sure what he was getting at. "Will?"

He smiled slightly. "My mother always used to see that things always looked better in the morning."

She continued to stare, before deciding she'd probably find out what he was talking about sooner rather than later. "Go have your shower."

The order earned her a bigger smile. "On my way."

Mackenzie watched him go, taking another sip of her coffee. For a moment, she contemplated tossing Will's fabulously comfortable duvet back over her head and retreating from the world for a little while longer. God damn it, she actually felt almost _good_ this morning, or on the edges of it at least. And all because of the man whose bed she was currently still tucked into.

The whole room practically smelled of him.

Mackenzie closed her eyes for a moment and let herself pretend that she actually belonged here. Then, sighing slightly, she opened her eyes and grabbed the paper next to her.

Probably best to get this over with.

xxx

Not for the first time, Will was confronted with just how much he actually liked his lawyer (while ACN's really, but in this case it was the same thing).

After a surprisingly relaxing morning in his apartment, his day had pretty much become a whirlwind the second he arrived at work. This latest meeting was just the most recent in a never-ending stream of conversations, about the lawsuit, about the show, about strategy. But, to his surprise, Will found he was actually enjoying this one.

"Run this by me one more time," Rebecca Halloway said, standing opposite his desk, hands on her hips. "The editors of the Times _and_ the Post just woke up this morning and decided to write semi-favourable articles about NewsNight and the Genoa story."

"Don't be ridiculous," Will said, enjoying how Rebecca's expression shifted subtly to mild suspicion and worry at his words. "To be in today's paper, those articles would have had to be written yesterday. At the latest, last night."

Rebecca almost laughed. She hid it well, but Will was pretty sure he caught it anyway. He'd certainly spent enough hours with her over the last few weeks that he'd had time to recognize the signs. "Look," she said. "Calling up a friend and asking them to write a favourable article certainly isn't illegal…"

"I didn't call anyone," Will interrupted.

"It isn't illegal," Rebecca repeated firmly. "But it certainly wouldn't look good if anyone found out. And I don't think I need to explain to you how cases like this can be one and lost in the press."

Will held firm. "I didn't call anyone," he assured her. "And I didn't ask anyone to make the call either. Why would I? Up until last night I was doing my best to convince my boss to fire me. We both were," he added, gesturing to Mackenzie, who was standing silently in the back corner of the room, leaning against the wall behind Rebecca.

Rebecca turned towards her. "I assume the same goes for you?"

Mackenzie nodded. "I didn't call in any favours," she said, her voice soft.

Rebecca watched her for a moment before turning her attention back to Will. "You'll excuse me for finding this whole turn of events a little suspicious."

Will understood her position, but he also wasn't sure what she wanted him to say. He really hadn't called in favours and he knew that Mac sure as hell hadn't. He'd known Charlie and Leona had been trying to identify their friends, but he was pretty sure they weren't responsible for this either. "Am I quoted in either of those articles?" he asked.

Rebecca sighed. "You know you aren't."

"Is anyone at ACN?" he continued.

"No," Rebecca admitted.

"Because everyone in this office has declined any requests for comment about the lawsuit, at your insistence," Will reminded her.

"Maybe officially," Rebecca told him. _"But…"_

Will decided he may as well share his theory of cause and effect with her. "Did you know that Mac goes way back with both of these guys?" Will asked lightly, holding up the papers, amused when Mac's eyes widened. "I mean, I've crossed paths with both of them myself, but not like Mackenzie."

"I had made that connection already," Rebecca assured him, turning to look at Mackenzie again. "So you can see my concern."

"I didn't call in the favour," Mac said again, sounding tired. Will frowned at her tone, but didn't interrupt her. "I know no one will believe me," she continued. "I know how it looks. I didn't… I never expected… God damn it…" She ran a hand over her face, glancing away, obviously frustrated.

Will watched her in concern. She'd been oddly silent for the duration of the meeting with Rebecca. She'd been cautiously optimistic (and pleased) when she'd first read the editorials that morning, but when faced with Rebecca's apparent scepticism, Mac had started to retreat back into herself. Will knew that the lawyer was only doing her job, but that didn't stop him from being suddenly annoyed with her. Would it have killed Rebecca to tell Mac she believed her?

He glared his displeasure at the woman standing on the other side of his desk with her arms crossed Rebecca looked a little remorseful, but stood firm. So did Will. And he decided he'd better fill her in on the rest of his theory, before Mac shut down even further. "Mac didn't call them. She didn't need to need to," he informed their lawyer.

He saw Mac's head snap up out of the corner of his eye. Rebecca just raised an eyebrow. "Care to expand on that, Mr. McAvoy?"

He smirked. "Of course counsellor. Mac didn't need to call them and explain what happened," he drawled. "Because they've both worked with her before. They know her."

Will thought he saw dawning comprehension on the lawyer's face. "I'm not sure that will satisfy the court, McAvoy," she pressed.

"We're not in court, counsellor," Will replied. "But I'll expand on my answer anyway. They've worked with her. They know how good she is. They know how ridiculously ethical she is. Everybody who knows her knows_ that._ Hell, most people generally agree that she's the best EP in the business.. And they know that if something like this happened, there'd be a damn good reason. So, instead of gloating, they did what good journalists do when confronted with a story, they dug deeper. And they wrote pieces that, while not uniformly favourable, are at least fair."

"The Times is pretty fair. It dwells a little more on all the stupid things you guys did than I'd have liked, but beggars can't be choosers. And the piece in the Post's practically a love song to your cause," Rebecca pointed out with a smirk. "It cites you guys as an example of good journalism, brought low by a series of unfortunate coincidences, lying witnesses, doctored facts that were easily missed, who nobly admitted your error as soon as it came to your attention. Fuck. I couldn't have told a better story if I'd tried."

"Yeah," Will agreed. "How long have you known Tim, Mac? Gotta be fifteen years, right?"

"More than that now," she murmured, her eyes fixed on him. "It's been a while. He's a bit pompous, but a good guy underneath all the bluster. I still can't believe he..."

"I can," Will replied. "He's always had a bit of a crush on you."

"Oh, he has not," Mac snapped. It was an old argument, and Will couldn't resist reviving. "He's been happily married for twenty-five years. He just believes that good journalism is still possible."

"Which is why he's always liked you so much," Will replied, his eyes twinkling.

Mac just scowled at him, but she was blushing. Will let himself grin at her.

"Both of them cite the doctored tape," Rebecca said, forcing Will to shift his attention back to her.

"We're hardly the only people in the world who knew about that," Will reminded her.

"You really didn't point anyone towards this?" Rebecca asked.

Will shrugged. "Nope. To be honest, it didn't occur to me to try. I didn't think anyone still liked me well enough to do me the favour. Mac's way more popular, but she'd never ask."

To Will's surprise, Rebecca suddenly smiled. "Just when I thought this case couldn't get any better."

Will raised his eyebrows.

"You swear you had nothing to do with this," Rebecca pressed.

"I didn't have anything to do with this," Will said easily.

"I love that I'm on the right side of this one," Rebecca said gleefully. It'll be a pleasure representing you guys."

"We try," Will said dryly.

Rebecca smirked. "Now I get to go tell Leona that we really might have a few more friends than we thought."

"We're still going to get creamed on the morning shows," Will reminded her. "And quite a few of the evening shows."

"Most of those shows were never going to say a good word about you no matter what you did," Rebecca said with a wave of her hand. "These stories _will_ make it harder for any credible news organization to ignore this side of the story, and they'll blow a massive hole in Dantana's credibility with the media. I'm going to need to modify our strategy."

"Alright," Will said. "While you're doing your job, I'll do mine. I do still have a show to anchor tonight."

"Sure thing," Rebecca agreed. "Mackenzie."

"Rebecca," Mac murmured back.

Will watched the lawyer go with a smile, before turning back to Mac. "See, it'll be okay," he promised her. "

"You don't know that," she reminded him quietly.

He shrugged, because he was pretty sure part of her was hopeful, and that was better than nothing. "We stand together. And right now, Reese and Leona are standing with us. Look on the bright side, we'll probably get a ratings bump from all the media coverage."

That made her scowl. "For all the wrong reasons."

"Still," Will teased. "Silver lining."

Mackenzie drew herself up to her full height and stalked over to his desk. Will found himself confronting a second woman with her hands on her hips. "I can't believe that after all that's happened you're _still_ thinking about the ratings," Mac snapped, raising her voice.

"And I always will," he assured her.

Mackenzie actually growled at him. "You're going to drive me to completely crazy one of these days."

Will figured that was better than being snapped into a million pieces by Genoa. "That is my goal."

She almost laughed. He caught the edges of it on her frustrated exhale. Instead she just shook her head and shifted her attention back to things she could actually control, a.k.a. their show. "I've got a meeting with Taylor on post-election analysis. She's going to try and talk me into putting her on the air to discuss why the Republican strategy didn't work the way the party wanted it to. I may let her. Thought I'd give you a heads up."

Will nodded. "Who's on Petraeus?" he asked, referencing the breaking scandal.

"Who isn't?" Mac shot back. She paused. "It's going to be a busy week."

Will met her eyes. "We'll get through it."

To his relief, she nodded. "Okay." He could practically see her mentally shifting gears, going through all of the things she needed to do today. He'd always loved to watch her work. "See you at the rundown."

"Yeah," he murmured, watching her go.

She was still a bit quieter than usual, but she was looking better. He was pretty sure her almost ever-present optimism was trying to resurface, in spite of herself. The unexpected support in a few of the newspapers had helped, but there was still a long way to go. Will wasn't worried; he was determined to coax the old Mac back to life.

Or at the very least, make sure that the bags under her eyes kept shrinking.

He smiled softly, remembering. Because she still looked gorgeous, but not as good as she had that morning.

xxx

Will had drifted awake without the help of his alarm, which was lucky, because not only would an alarm almost certain have woken Mackenzie, but he'd also forgotten to set one.

He wasn't sure what woke him, but as waking involved finding a Mackenzie snuggled up against him, Will realized he didn't much care. The first thing that registered was warmth. Mac had always been a cuddler, and that apparently hadn't changed. He was in almost exactly the same position this morning as the one he remembered going to sleep in, Mackenzie pressed against his chest, his arm around wrapped loosely her waist.

As Will's brain slowly started to wake up, he couldn't resist shifting slightly closer, burying his nose in her hair and breathing deep. Hints of her perfume still lingered near her neck. Will knew from past experience that it would linger even longer on his sheets.

He closed his eyes for a moment and let himself get lost in memories of other mornings with Mackenzie. Unlike those past mornings, he knew that kissing his way down her neck would be unlikely to result in her turning and kissing him properly as her arms wound lazily around his neck and every other part of her wound itself around his heart. God, the way things had been going between them, he'd been half-terrified to wrap his arm around her the night before, sure that he'd spook her. He'd told himself she'd needed the comfort, but if he was honest, Will knew he'd needed it just as much himself. He hadn't been able to stop touching her all evening, reassuring himself that she was still there, no matter how much of an asshole he'd been, no matter how many mistakes had been made.

And she was. The woman in his bed was tangible proof of that.

The same woman who was (luckily) still sleeping like the dead. Will had always envied her that ability, but he was grateful for it now. She needed the rest.

And much as he didn't want to, he needed to get out of bed (and not just because eventually a warm and snuggly Mackenzie would be too much to resist). Today was going to be an absurdly busy day, and Will wasn't sure how much longer he could lie in bed with Mackenzie. In a few moments, the memories might become painful, when he was forced to remember how things actually stood.

So he told himself he needed coffee, and that she definitely would when he finally woke her (and he was determined she'd sleep for at least another hour). So, sliding out of bed as quietly as he could, Will tucked the blankets back around her and slipped out of the room.

He decided to wait a while to shower. Told himself that coffee and the news channels were more important. And he refused to admit that his decision had nothing to do with the fact that his shirt still smelled slightly of her perfume.

xxx

He'd had to shower eventually, of course. After waking her.

That had been another test of will, or Will. He smirked to himself at the terrible pun as he toweled himself off. Mackenzie had always been his weak spot, maybe always would be. But dragging her unwilling out of sleep had done things to his chest that the pragmatic, hardened, cynical newscaster in him didn't like to admit to.

With her sexily mussed hair, her sleepy eyes blinking up at him and that sexy, still-half-asleep voice as she burrowed into his blankets, she'd made him want to tell her to never mind, to just go back to sleep (as he curled in with her.) He knew it was a fool's errand. They could hardly sleep the week away, and Mac certainly wouldn't appreciate his attempts to protect her from anything. He was walking a fine line as it was.

Will was only too aware that he'd only gotten away with feeding her and tucking her into bed because she'd been literally too exhausted to fight him.

He was also pretty sure that was also the reason she'd settled back against him without a second thought as she slept. (He tried not to think too hard about the fact that her instinct was still to relax into his arms. He told himself it had been an instinctive search for warmth. He wasn't sure he'd convinced himself.)

He wasn't an idiot, he knew the worst was far from over, but after seeing the papers this morning, he couldn't help feeling a spark of hope.

And not only because she was still in his apartment. (He still hadn't lost her. Not yet.)

Then he frowned. Because he realized that one good night's sleep was only the beginning.

After getting dressed, he'd found her at his kitchen counter, still in the tights and t-shirt she'd worn to bed, though her hair was no longer looking sexily disheveled; she'd tied it back into a ponytail. She was currently hunched over the newspapers, holding the highlighters he still kept in one of his drawers (though he rarely used them himself) and eating toast and yogurt. The flash of memory the image provoked froze him in his tracks. Because she shouldn't have looked as _right_ there as she did. Not after all this time.

Instead she looked like she'd never left.

Will cleared his throat and forced himself to move.

The noise caught her attention. She glanced up at him, shifting slightly in her seat in sudden awkwardness. "Hi."

"Hi," he replied, trying to look casual, and also trying to suppress the urge to drop a kiss to the top of her head.

"I toasted you a bagel," she murmured. "I wasn't sure if you'd eaten."

He smiled a little. "I haven't."

She bit her lip. "You saw these?" she asked, gesturing to the Post and the Times.

He nodded. "I read them before brought them to you."

"They're better than we…" she sighed. "The morning shows will still crucify us, but…"

"But it's better than we thought," he agreed.

"I still can't quite believe it," she muttered, half to herself.

"All there in black and white," he assured her, trying to surreptitiously watch her face.

She nodded slowly. Then she sat up straight and squared her shoulders, "It's going to be a busy day."

"It is," Will agreed.

"I guess I should get ready to go in," Mac said sounding somewhat reluctant.

Will could understand the reluctance. His apartment was quiet, safe, the rest of the world, not so much. "You want to shower?"

That earned him an attempt at a smile. "Well, I've heard the experience is quite something."

He smirked. "You won't know what hit you."

"I'm assuming water," she retorted.

He chuckled, pleased when her smile widened.

She turned towards the bedroom before spinning back, "Will I…"

He tried to cut her off. "Don't worry about it."

But the stubborn woman refused to be dissuaded. He could see it in the set of her shoulders. She crossed back towards him, shaking her head. He had the most ridiculous urge to hold his breath. "Seriously Will," she said softly. "Thanks."

He reached for her hand and squeezed it, knowing any attempt at actual words would be wholy inadequate. "Anytime."

She ducked her head, a shy little smile on her face. One that he hadn't seen in a while.

Then she slid her hand out of his. "I guess I should go see about that shower."

"Yeah," he whispered, his eyes glued to her back as he watched her walk away.

xxx

The rest of the morning had been a confusion of phone calls and ensuring they both had everything they needed for work. Will actually decided he might need to prepare ahead for longer than just one day, the way the week was going so far. He was glad they'd taken the extra few hours that morning.

Because once they actually arrived at the office, it felt like all hell quietly broke loose.

Between the election, the lawsuit and the rumours about Petraeus, Will was pretty sure his brain was actually spinning in his skull. But he also knew Mac was bearing the worst of it. She could multitask better than anyone he'd ever known, especially when it came to her professional life. But he wasn't sure he'd seen her sit down in the last four hours.

He knew he had to trust her though. And he did. If there was one thing he knew, it was that Mackenzie McHale was at her best in a control room. There could be a riot going on outside the building and she'd manage to ensure the show ran smoothly.

Still, he didn't imagine it was going to be a quiet show. The two of them had already squared off in at least three arguments about content that afternoon alone.

The fact that Will heard her voice the second he slipped his earpiece into his ear only confirmed his suspicions.

"I need you to tell me you're not planning on going easy on any of the guests tonight because of the lawsuit," she said bluntly, and without preamble.

He figured he should have expected this. "Mackenzie…"

Mac apparently took that as an indication that he was going to fight her, because before Will could get so much as another word out, Mackenzie had launched into yet another lecture over the microphone, about how the whole point of standing up to the lawsuit was to make sure that Jerry Dantana didn't stop them from doing the kind of show they wanted to do, and if they gave up and started pandering now, then they might as well just settle the lawsuit and give up journalism to set up a llama farm in the country. Will wasn't sure where the llamas came into it, but he didn't ask, not that he could have gotten a word in edgewise, even if he'd wanted to. He didn't ask anything at all, just let her tirade wash over him, her words getting louder and stronger with each syllable.

"I know you worry about the ratings, and the audience," Mac continued. "But it's like you said, we're almost certain to get a ratings bump because of this. So let's just do a good show and not worry about whether people like us, because most of them hate us right now anyway. We need to show integrity, Will! And we can't be scared. So you need to…"

As he heard the steel in her voice and let her orders wash over him, for the first time in two days Will knew it was going to be okay, whatever happened. He was sure of it. Because no matter what happened, she was still in his ear. His Mackenzie. And he couldn't help smiling. "It's going to be okay, Mac," he said, interrupting her mid-rant.

He could tell from the hitch in her voice that he'd caught her off guard. He smiled just a little wider. Just for a second.

And heard a second aborted gasp.

But that was all it took. Then she seemed to find her voice. "See that it is," she murmured.

He nodded, his expression turning serious. He _would_ see that it was. Because he was just getting started. "Good show."

He could practically hear her smile across the microphone. "Good show, Billy."

For the first time in a while, Will was pretty sure that it would be.

xxx

TBC


End file.
